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Author

Niall Hunt

Published

15 Nov 2017

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Antenna Hungária is launching a niche sports OTT service called MindiGo, Henrik Schneider - Director of Broadcast and Media Services Division, announced today to a packed session at OTTTV World Summit today.

The launch is part of the Hungarian broadcaster’s strategy to combat the rise of global OTT players such as Netflix, Scheider said, noting that “the idea OTT and traditional pay TV distribution are enemies is false”.

“In Antenna Hungária, I have a €50m reason what this isn’t true,” he said, adding that the rise of OTT delivery “makes me want to understand what these technologies can do for me as a broadcaster”.

He pointed out that especially in central and eastern Europe, Netflix launched with no localised content and was very much a general player. He explained that these countries are also very price sensitive. “While Netflix are adapting to this, there are still a lot of opportunities for local players to produce micro-local content using the Netflix model,” he said.

The opportunity for local broadcasters is in niche local cultural programming, that is not cost-effective for a generalist like Netflix. The launch of MindiGo is an example of this, he explained. The new service will deliver Hungarian sports including motor racing, basketball and football and “will add a layer of interactivity” to keep fans engaged.